Another year is in the books for Horizon Stage, but manager Brandi Watson is already focused on what is coming up next season.

This past calendar featured 28 shows, starting with Aaron Goodvin on Sept. 14 and ended on April 12 with Trevor Panczak.

It was a big year for Horizon Stage which pushed into new territory with several of its shows while trying to serve all local tastes, and even pushing some viewers out of their comfort zone. It is a delicate balance that is often more difficult to achieve than on first blush.

“Even within each demographic there are so many likes and dislikes,” said theatre manager Brandi Watson. “You have to have diversity, not only within the genre, but who’s on stage because people need to identify with the people they see. If there is never a young person on stage, how am I ever going to get a young person to come watch … It’s a little bit of a chess game but I do love it.”

Country music crooner Trevor Panczak closes out the 2019 Horizon Stage season on April 12.Photo by Evan J. Pretzer Reporter/Examiner

Perhaps the biggest challenge for Watson and her crew is filling the children’s programming niche, a struggle for theatres across the province. They are not going to compete with Edmonton’s bigger venues for trendy-heavy shows with people in giant stuffed heads which do not bat an eye at charging $60 a ticket. But there are only so many shows the parents and children can relate to and enjoy, and the road warrior icons like Sharron, Lois and Bram, and Fred Penner, and Raffi are slowly starting to fade into retirement.

“It’s harder to convince them to come and see a musical act or a dance group or a theatre group that’s specifically aimed at that age group because it’s outside of their familiarity,” said Watson. “Its important to us to make sure what we are putting on stage is good quality stuff, because what I despise is the people who talk down to children. … it’s hard to find people who address kids as intelligent human beings and when you find them you just want everyone to come in.”

Fred Penner and the Cats Meow Band played to a sold out Horizon Stage theatre in Spruce Grove on Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018. Josh Aldrich/Reporter/Examiner

There were a number of shows Watson was particularly proud of this year. Right near the top of the list was the Emerging Artists show on April 9.

It was a show she had been working on for a number of years as a way of highlighting some of the up-and-coming talent from across the province. These were acts who may not be ready to headline but are on the upswing. Often they open for bigger acts, but due to the formatting of Horizon Stage events there usually are none. This show combined the lot of them, crossing many genres and styles.

“That was a proud moment for us,” said Watson. “We found a way to support people who are new, people who are talented, people who need a break … there’s a different atmosphere to bring them into a performing arts centre.”

Emerging Artists may not be back again next year, but Watson said she is looking to cycle it in every few years.

Also at the top was the soulful Krystle Dos Santos and her Motown Revue on March 30 as she dialled back the clock and dusted off some of the biggest standards to come out of Detroit. This was not the first time Dos Santos has played Spruce Grove, previously being on the main stage during Canada Day festivities a few years ago.

“She’s warm and wonderful and she opens up her mouth and her voice comes from her toes,” said Watson. “We literally could have not mic’d her at all and she would have had no problem. The music is so good, it reaches into my soul. I don’t know how people sit still at a show like that, I chair dance all the time.”

All told, they sold 6,981 tickets to their 28 shows this season for an average attendance of 249 in the 350-seat building. This included 12 shows that were sold out or down to single tickets and another six shows within 50 tickets of a sell out.

It all leaves a high bar for next year.

Natalie Czar talks on the phone to Cheryl Jameson during a scene from The Best Little Newfoundland Christmas Pageant play at Horizon Stage on Dec. 8.Photo by Evan J. Pretzer Rep/Ex Staff

Horizon Stage will leak out all of the 2019-20 shows over the course of June, they will include the likes of up and coming all-girls county band Nice Horse who played Big Valley Jamboree in 2018 in September. In October, Canadian folk artist Jimmy Rankin hits the stage, while November will bring one of the most unique acts they’ve hosted in a long time in the Red Dirt Skinners, an act originally from the UK that skirts along several different musical genres. Horizon Stage will host Bill McGuigan’s Rock Legends, an audience-customized tribute concert in March in which the audience will be polled prior to the concert and a set list will be made up on the spot.

An early highlight will come in September when they collaborate with the Spruce Grove Public Library and the Allied Arts Council for Alberta Culture Days as they bring in Christine Hanson’s The Cremation of Sam McGee, based on the poem by Robert Frost. The show consists on seven musicians on stage, a narrator reading the poem and artwork on the back wall to illustrate.

“It’s just this amazing celebration of this poem that is so iconic in Canadian history,” said Watson.